Minnesota State Senator John Jasinski (R-Faribault) took a principled stand against the Senate’s supplemental jobs funding bill Monday, despite having authored a key provision in the bill.  

Senator Jasinski voted against the bill over concerns regarding the integrity of the Senate’s legislative process — the bill passed because of a tie-breaking vote cast by Senator Nicole Mitchell, a Democrat Senator who is currently charged with felony burglary. Senate Democrats have already stripped Senator Mitchell of her committee assignments and removed her from their caucus pending an ethics investigation and completion of the criminal case, but controversially allowed her to vote. 

 “I strongly, strongly support my wastewater operator training program provision, but allowing a senator charged with a felony to cast the deciding vote on any legislation is unacceptable,” Senator Jasinski said. “It questions the very legitimacy of our work and undermines public trust in our institution. We must uphold the integrity of the Senate.” 

Senate Republicans lodged several objections to Sen. Mitchell’s vote during the floor debate: 

• They first offered a motion to prohibit a Senator from voting who has been charged with a crime of violence until the conclusion of the investigation and submission of findings. Democrats rejected that motion.  

• Second, they offered an amendment to prohibiting the Secretary of the Senate from registering and recording the vote of any Senate member who has been charged with a crime of violence until the conclusion of the investigation and submission of findings. Democrats rejected that motion. 

• Following the passage of the bill, Republicans lodged a formal protest with the President of the Senate. The protest notes, “We protest and dissent against the vote on SF5289 which was adopted by the Senate with a deciding vote being cast by someone clearly unfit for office. We believe it is an abuse of power by both Sen. Mitchell, the Senate Majority Caucus, and its members.” 

The Jasinski provision provides $350,000 to develop water and wastewater operator training programs at Riverland Community College. It is aimed at addressing shortages of skilled water and wastewater professionals in Minnesota, particularly in the southern regions. 

Of the $350,000 in funding, $100,000 would go toward developing training program curriculums aligned with state certification requirements for water and wastewater operators. Another $100,000 would fund Riverland Community College personnel to help establish the programs. The remaining funds would support marketing, administrative costs, training equipment, and grant administration. 

“There are a lot of communities around Minnesota, especially in southern Minnesota, that are seeing a shortage of professionals for these careers,” Senator Jasinski said. “It is critical that we recruit and develop the next generation of these experts as soon as possible – especially as more and more current operators near retirement age. I am glad this provision is included in the bill, but I regret that Democrats chose to bring a cloud over our proceedings.”